Star Wars Episode 7 and Disney buy Lucas Film

[Grugz]

its not as good as the old ones  (I Dunno) but way better than the prequels.not hard!

[TordelBack]

One hour to go!

[ZenArcade]

All you dudes enjoy. Z

[Jim_Campbell]

Eleven days to go!



Cheers

Jim

[Grugz]

dunno how many days till I see it again...got to persuade my lass she wants to go (I sat through 2 smurf films for her)

[JamesC]

I really liked all the new characters. The girl who plays Rey is brilliant.

[SIP]

Hmmmmm.......not sure how I felt about it.   Currently thinking that I still preferred revenge of the sith.....

[Minkyboy]

It IS Star Wars. Phew.
A few too many familiar ingredients perhaps but great film.

[TordelBack]

No SPOILERS per se, but my immediate reactions:

[spoiler]
Well I didn't enjoy watching that very much.  In fact my main reaction was that this wasn't a story, it was a pilot episode. Albeit a pilot for a series I really want to see.

Bad stuff first: As expected it was far, far too derivative of its predecessors, to the point that I found certain box-ticking bits surprisingly boring, but as a 'passing the baton' film it worked well, until it stumbled a bit into reverse at the very end. The plot, and the order of the various reveals, was horribly muddled, leaving me frequently confused as to the stakes, and the decision to leave one major heavily-trailed mystery unaddressed felt cheap and forced.

I also felt the info-dump scenes were handled in Prequel-dull fashion, and yet they often made me feel that I'd missed a more interesting movie than this one. And yet I still have no idea how the various groups mentioned relate to each other, including our heroes, which would be okay, except everyone in the movie seemed to know all this.

It may have been the rather poor screen, but a lot of the spaceship effects felt weightless and the dogfighting impossible to follow - and dare I say it, some of the CGI character work weak. Finally, there was a lot of background cast just standing around doing nothing, and on occasion lining up to be in group shots, which took me out of things.

The Good: the new cast were great, the old cast were great, Han was great, BB8 was great, the lightsabre fights were great Kylo Ren was surprisingly great - what a cool villain. The chemistry between Rey and Finn was cool, likewise Rey and Han, and Poe and Finn. Background aliens and droids were fun. Abramsisms were actually okay - he made the film after all. And the kids really enjoyed it.

I suspect I'll enjoy watching it a lot more the next time, now the tension is gone, and I suspect the next one will be better, now this bridging effort is out of the way.  6/10? [/spoiler]

But yeah: it is Star Wars, and better than the last one.

[Tiplodocus]

Overall a big thumbs up though there is quite a "Star Wars Greatest Hits" feel to it.

[ThryllSeekyr]

Technically, I have three days before I can use money again. Doesn't mean I have to see it next Monday though. If I see it next Tuesday, I can see it at half price. Yet, I can do this anytime, because I am a Pensioner and have a card for that and it doesn't stack with Half-Price-Tuesdays. So that is much of a muchness.

Been trying organise local friends to do this together. but they mostly do stuff with their own families now. One of unmarried ones told they haven't even bothered to see the Prequel-Trilogy and won't be seeing any of the new ones.

Whoah, somebody dropped a huge spoiler there.....even though they did it in tags, I still read this without thinking and now that huge one to drop. I might complain, but have done this plenty of times myself. So, I now feel un-validated and spoiled.

[maryanddavid]

I like Star Wars, but I don't have as much vested in it as others, so going on most reaction I have heard and read I should enjoy it.
I am going with two of my brothers and a combo of our kids tomorrow evening to see it, it should be fun!

[Bat King]

It was Star Wars!

I enamored the references to the original trilogy. I lived Chewie's punchlines, he delivered those almost as well as Sweep on live Sooty and Sweep shows I saw when my daughter was little.

I really, really enjoyed it.

More thoughts on my blog. Spoiler light cos some things can be guessed from my comments but no plot spoilers.
http://judgetutorsemple.wordpress.com/2015/12/18/star-wars-episode-vii-the-force-awakens-my-experience-spoiler-light-almost-spoiler-free/

[Ghost MacRoth]

Loved it.  Yeah it's a bit bonkers, yeah it draws heavily on the past (it is a sequel after all )but I don't think it harms it at all.  Look forward to the next one immensely.

[radiator]

I was lucky enough to see The Force Awakens with a big group in my favourite cinema here in Portland. Sold out, opening night, dozens of people in costume, a costume contest with kids and adults alike up on stage, some having impromptu lightsaber fights. Star Wars themed cocktail menu. Pure love being radiated from audience to screen. I lost count of the times the film got rapturous applause and cheering. Ordinarily the more pandering, fan-service elements would have really irked me, but in this context, it worked. I couldn't help but cheer along. This was the absolute best way to see this film, really really memorable, and it helped me to just absorb and enjoy the film, and ignore certain glaring problems with the plot.

Ultimately, its good, not great. A film with a lot of endearing - even lovable - qualities, but one that is flawed and distinctly rough around the edges. I don't know how much I'll revisit it, but this was a great experience nonetheless.

Spoilery detailed thoughts tomorrow.

I loved Rey's theme.